Office of Diversity

Just another Owatc.edu Blogs weblog

 

 

Today we celebrate the culture of India.

Please join us from 11:00 to 1:00 Monday in Union Building 107, join us for food, music and cultural displays.

Indian Culture

 

Identity

 

The culture of India has been shaped by the long history of India, its unique geography and the absorption of customs, traditions and ideas from some of its neighbors as well as by preserving its ancient heritages, which were formed during the Indus Valley Civilization and evolved further during the Vedic age, rise and decline of Buddhism, Golden age, Muslim conquests and European colonization. India’s great diversity of cultural practices, languages, customs, and traditions are examples of this unique co-mingling over the past five millennia.

 

Language

 

Hindi (Standard Hindi besides many dialects of varying mutual intelligibility) is the most widespread language of India. The Indian census takes the widest possible definition of “Hindi” as a broad variety of “Hindi languages”. The native speakers of Hindi so defined accounts for about 40% of Indians.

Indian English is recorded as the native language of 226,449 Indians in the 2001 census. English is the second “language of the Union” besides Hindi.

Thirteen languages account for more than 1% of Indian population each, and between themselves for over 95%; all of them are “scheduled languages of the constitution”.

Scheduled languages spoken by less than 1% of Indians are Santali (0.64%), Nepali (0.28%), Sindhi (0.25%), Manipuri (0.14%), Bodo (0.13%), Dogri (0.01%, spoken in Jammu and Kashmir). The largest language that is not “scheduled” is Bhili (0.95%), followed by Gondi (0.27%), Tulu (0.17%) and Kurukh (0.098980986%)

 

Interesting Facts About India

 

Chess was invented in India.

 

 

Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.

The ‘Place Value System’ and the ‘Decimal System’ were developed in India in 100 B.C.

 

India is the largest democracy in the world, the 6th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.

 

 

India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.

 

 

The largest employer in the world is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.

 

 

India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India’s wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.

 

 

The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘NAVGATIH’. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Nou’.

 

 

The value of “pi” was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem.

 

Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his teamconducted complicated surgeries likecataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.

 

 

Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.

 

 

The four religions born in India – Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world’s population.

 

 

The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.

 

 

Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.

 

 

Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.